By Kyle Francis
“Music” is a hard word to define. From great symphonies to banging a rhythm on a tabletop, humanity has simply known music by instinct. Somewhere along music’s great timeline, someone got the idea to scratch records to a drumbeat, throwing in distorted keyboards and sound bites from 70’s era science fiction movies for good measure. The art of the DJ is born. There will be those who find the need to stretch the definition of music to its very limits by labeling something lacking any real instrumentation or vocals as such, but it’s not a stretch to call Mix Master Mike’s new album “awesome” even for those aforementioned.
Although he began destroying vinyl in the mid-nineties, Mix Master Mike was brought into the mainstream in ’98 when he handled the beats on the Beastie Boys’ genre-bending LP, Hello Nasty. Break dancers everywhere will be happy to hear Mike’s already mad turntableism skillz have only gotten better since his days with the Beastie Boys. All thirteen of Bangzilla’s scratch-heavy tracks are very conducive to dancing or high-energy partying. A single song can cause you to feel capable of performing acrobatic feats that would surely cause grievous injury.
Even for those not into break-dancing or the impressive technical feats implicit within turntableism, Bangzilla is still a great album for house parties, driving really fast, tossing midgets or virtually any other activity involving the pumping of adrenaline. “Real” music or not, it’s safe to say Bangzilla will definitely kick the shit out of your eardrums. And Mothra. Never underestimate Mothra.